OUCH!
Premier League fantasy football: What Aymeric Laporte’s injury means for your team and who to replace him with
Aymeric Laporte is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines following a nasty knee injury.
The Man City defender was stretchered off during their 4-0 win over Brighton at the weekend and it was later confirmed he suffered damage to his cartilage and lateral meniscus.
That doesn't sound good, does it?
No one knows for sure how long the 25-year-old will be out of action for, but we imagine he won't be back until the new year.
This will cause a bit of a defensive headache for Pep Guardiola, as the Frenchman has established himself as an integral member of his back-line since his move to the club in January 2018.
What's more, it creates a major problem for all of you fantasy football managers out there - as Laporte has proven to be a popular player on Dream Team.
Over 15% of you have him in your teams at the moment, making him the sixth most-picked defender.
What's more, priced at £5m, Laporte is the second-most expensive defender on the game, behind only Virgil van Dijk.
That means a large chunk of you have 10% of your Dream Team's budget just sitting in your back-line with an injury.
That's plenty of money to play with and we think we've got three excellent alternative options for you...
Fantasy football fans are always on the lookout for a handy and affordable full-back, who's not only defensively sound but can also contribute to things in attack.
In that sense, Digne seems to be the perfect player and was a big hit on Dream Team last season -contributing to four goals and fours assists in the Premier League.
He's started this season well too, with two assists to his name as well as that - giving him a total points haul of 32 so far, more than any other defender.
Common sense tells us that Man City and Liverpool still have the two best defensive-lines in the top-flight, despite Man United's summer spending.
So if you switching out someone like Laporte, you'll likely want to swap him for one of his teammates (more on that shortly) or someone from the Reds.
How about Matip?
The Cameroon international is widely considered to be Liverpool's 'weak-link', but the centre-back has firmly established himself as Jurgen Klopp's go-to defensive partner to Virgil Van Dijk - ahead of Joe Gomez and Dejan Lovren - with some of his performances towards the end of last season particularly impressive.
Of course, who better to replace Laporte in your Dream Team than the man who'll likely replace him in real life?
All things considered, it seems likely that Otamendi will be Pep's main man now that Laporte is on the sidelines.
The Argentinian has started three of City's four games this season and could be joined by defensive midfielder Fernandinho, full-back Kyle Walker, or the soon-to-be-fit-again John Stones, after the international break.
Use the following week or so to take stock.
Your September transfers will land on Friday 6th but we recommend waiting until the following week before making any changes.
The international break can be a cruel mistress for injuries so patience will be key.
As for September, Man City have an ominously easy run of fixtures while the big games include Chelsea v Liverpool and Man United v Arsenal.
If you don't have De Bruyne yet, you need to take a long, hard look at yourself.